"Not here to sit and make excuses" - Marnus Labuschagne admits Australia must be better after their dismal start to 2023 World Cup

Australia's No.4 Marnus Labuschagne has refused to give any excuses for the dismal start to their 2023 World Cup campaign. The right-handed batter admitted that their sub-standard fielding was not good enough against the Proteas and highlighted the need to bounce back quickly.

Australia tumbled to a 134-run loss to South Africa on Thursday, October 12, in Lucknow after dropping six catches in their innings. While the five-time champions did a reasonable job of restricting the Proteas to 311, their batters struggled and eventually managed only 177.

Speaking at a press conference, Labuschagne acknowledged that Australia must be better, given they are representing their country in the World Cup. He insisted that the Men in Yellow are keen to get things right and the 'train rolling'.

As quoted by cricket.com.au, he said:

"I'm not here to sit and make excuses. We're playing a World Cup for Australia, we have to be ready and we have to be better than that. It's hard to put your finger on it, we're one of the best fielding sides in the world. We pride ourselves on that. We just didn't seem to get it right today. We created opportunities and just didn't take them and it just wasn't a great performance from us, but we have to bounce back and get this train rolling."

While the margin of loss was 134 runs, it could've been greater had it not been for the 69-run stand between Labuschagne and Mitchell Starc. The former also top-scored for Australia with 46(74).

"We're going need to win every game from here" - Marnus Labuschagne

Australia vs South Africa. (Credits: Twitter)

The 29-year-old hopes to see Australia bring their A-game moving forward, given every fixture is likely to be a must-win game for them. Labuschagne added:

"That's the reason Australia's won the World Cup five times is because we play well under pressure. We can be disappointed about this performance, we can be disappointed about lots of things."

"But we've got to take action and we've got to get our tournament underway. In three days' time we've got Sri Lanka here (on Monday) and we're going need to win every game from here I assume, or at least go close to get into that (final) four. We haven't started well, but this is the beginning not the end."

Australia will next face Sri Lanka on Monday, October 16, in Lucknow. Sri Lanka have also been winless in their two matches played so far.